News, Updates, & Information

For those who like to search out "obscure" holidays, today would be considered one. Unless you're a Wiccan, of course. March is the beginning of the fertility season; it makes sense! So even though we cannot find the "origin": of who made March 18th the day of the Goddess of Fertility, we are glad we found it.

Fertility Goddesses

Click on any photo for a larger version. ​Click on the description for the link to the source.

2018 UpdateFriday, March 16 is the day of the EQUILUX here in Las Vegas (As close as it can be, at least). Day and Night are mere seconds away from being equal! Midday is at 12:49 p.m.

The Vernal EQUINOX will occur on Mar. 20, 2018 at exactly 9:15 am.

​2017 UpdateIn Las Vegas the EQUINOX is at September 22 Sat 6:54 PM PTThe EQUILUX occurs on Sep 26 - Wednesday ALL DAY with midday at 12:31 PM PT

2016 UPDATEIn Las Vegas the EQUINOX is at Sep 22 7:21 AM PDTThe Equilux occurs on Sep 25 - ALL DAY with midday at 12:32 PM

Sun and Moon 1493

The equinox is not really when the day and night are equal. We know that "equinox" derives from the Latin: aequinoctium - "aequi" or "equi" + noct (nox) or night or "equal night"... but No, not equal by a few minutes of the day

At the precise moment of the equinox there are three things happening:

1.) the sun is at zenith over the equator2.) where the sun rises, it does so exactly in the east and where it sets it does so exactly in the west and3.) both northern & southern hemispheres are EQUALLY illuminated on the side of the planet that the sun is shining on.

For us, here in Las Vegas, the EXACT moment of the equinox happened at 1:22 AM, earlier today. That's it. That one precise moment in time at 1:22 AM was the equinox.

Here in Las Vegas, dawn was at 6:29 AM and sunset was at 6:36 PM; giving us 12 hours and 6 minutes of daylight. Not equal. (But it's only six minutes... you can't forgive 6 minutes?!) No.

There are two reasons for this inequality: First, the sun is not a point in the sky. It is a disk. The apparent size of the sun (it's BIG & CLOSE) matters. Second, the atmospheric refraction of the sunlight in relation to the latitude of your location. The earth's atmosphere bends the light adding or subtracting how much actual daylight you have. Check this site for a more thorough explanation: Day and night exactly equal at equinoxes? By Bruce McClure)

Somewhere in the early 2000's, someone (probably my soul twin), usurped the word "Equilux" to mean 'equal day and night'... taken from a lighting term meaning 'equal illumination' or 'equal light'.

The equilux for Las Vegas will occur on September 26.... and guess what? It's the whole day!

But despite that most don't exactly know the astronomical details, the Autumnal Equinox is a time to give "Thanks" for the success of our harvests, whether literal or metaphorically, and to prepare and look to the future return of that bounty.

We pay respects to the coming forces of night and Winter and learn from them as we ourselves prepare for the dark season ahead. The night starts waxing and the day begins waning and we are reminded that nothing ever remains without change.

The Inner Circle Sanctuary celebrates all these aspects of the Autumn Equinox in it's ritual. We honor the Old Ones and pay respects to our ancestors by doing as they did in this season; by giving offerings from the harvest back to Mother Earth and to mark the season.

We hope your Autumnal Equinox was filled with love, laughter, family, and friendship... and a deep and loving connection with all that envelops us.

Bring in your old magical books and trade them in for new old ones. If you don't have books to trade, that's okay, too! We'll be selling the books for just $3 for paperbacks and $5 for hard covers.

Please bring books that are magical, Wiccan, pagan, historical, mythological, herbal, or gardening in nature. If you cannot attend but would like to donate some books, please message us and we will arrange for a pick-up!

​We ask for $15 a month in your first year and a day and $30 for every sabbat. In lieu of cash as your monthly donation, you can donate to an area charity we approve of and turn in a receipt.

100% of all monies collected from monthly dues, group events, and sabbats are donated to charity. Donations are tracked collectively for members' review.​ Any and all donations are non-compulsory.​If you're interested in joining our group, please read about our First Degree Classes.

We are extremely proud of all of our members for making our style of Wicca so beautiful and wonderful. We are supremely proud and indebted toLady Sisterwolf
for stepping out of the broom closet to be featured in the piece, despite most of her family not knowing she practices the Craft.
Her courage is unfathomable.
​
We are grateful for Kathleen Jacob and KVVU Fox 5 Television for wanting to create a news piece that wasn't a Halloween / Samhain trope. For the seven minutes they were allowed,
​the video turned out wonderfully!

The ritual being performed is our Samhain festival with Lady Nashoba as High Priestess and Lord Tanys as High Priest. Lady Sisterwolf was the only person mic'd for the ritual and the camera stayed outside the circle for their video pieces. The interviews with Lady Sisterwolf and Lady Walking Turtle from the Coven of the Red Dragonfly were filmed a few days later during the daytime.

Kathleen had put out a call in the pagan community to everyone she could contact via Witchvox and met with a few people in person to pitch her story. Our Lady Sisterwolf introduced and invited her to the Las Vegas Pagan Pride Day event where they also interviewed and filmed extensively. It is our understanding that the footage from Pagan Pride Day will be used for another news video piece at a later time. We were grateful that Kathleen offered us a preview of the clip before airing so we could correct anything if needed and if possible. Lad y Sisterwolf enjoyed her time contributing to this story and is extremely proud of its result; as are we. Huzzah!

$12.00 Adults $10.00 Seniors, Military and Students $6.00 Children (3-11)FREE Children (2 and younger), Las Vegas Natural History Museum MembersASTC Travel Passport Program (Two Adults & Two Children FREE)

Although there are folks that live areas of the country where a definite change in season is visible, even if you live in a desert, just about any leaf bearing tree will start to turn yellow and fall to the ground. As little trees as we have here in the southwestern desert, whenever I see that little golden carpet along the driveway, it takes me back to my childhood in Pennsylvania.

Autumn was always my favorite time of year. The air gets crisper, the nights get chilly. We have made it through the blazing heat of summer; it’s perfect hoodie weather without the freezing temperatures, or the gray hued days of winter.

Autumn Equinox is the time of the second harvest and the colors of the season burst on the scene. This is the time that crops are being stored for winter, and it is a time of giving thanks for your abundance.

Go outside! Seriously, notice the changes in the season. Have a picnic with friends and family.

Find some balance in your life. Meditate. This is a time that can get you a little off kilter; you may have excessive energy, and things are totally out of control, or little to no energy to accomplish even the simplest daily tasks. You can even feel “spiritually lopsided”. Meditation will help bring those in line, bring you back to center.

Find an orchard and harvest some of the seasonal fruit. Take your family along and make a day of it.

Volunteer! Whether it’s at a food bank, an animal shelter or to clean up some public land or park. Volunteering is a great way to teach children to be grateful for the abundance they have and how to give back to the community. It also does an adult soul good, as well.

Grapes are abundant this time of year. Honor the wine deities. Take a tour of a winery; have dinner party with some great friends; take a wine-making class.

Decorate your home, inside and out, with Autumn colors. Outside: rake up some leaves around a scarecrow sitting in a chair in your front lawn. Make a wreath and hang it on your front door, to welcome the changing of the season. Inside: use fall colored flowers as a table centerpiece, change your tablecloth to an autumn hue.

Go outside and sit around the fire pit when the sun goes down. Enjoy the camaraderie of friends and family. Have the parents and grandparents of the clan tell stories of the days of old. Those will become treasured memories you will pass on one day.

This is the time that we celebrate the light, and welcome the dark. There are so many things to do to celebrate, acknowledging, meditating, and thankfulness are just the beginning.Wishing you all a wonderful harvest season. Blessed Be.

Inner Circle Sanctuary, in addition to being a school of Wicca, is a religious institution which celebrates all the eight Sabbats, and honors ancient but living Deities of nature, fertility, and benevolence. In this piece we will discuss some of our practices, and those of other groups, particularly for the Autumn Equinox.

​We consider Sabbats to be times of communion with the Gods, and harmonization with Nature, at the turning points of the “Wheel of the Years.” Our late High Priest, Lord Mordred, always said “Sabbats are the Gods’ time,” and so we never do spell work or initiations on Sabbat days. We do however, make offerings of food and drink, and ask boons of the Gods, in the form of a wish written on parchment, wrapped around a candle, and burnt in our sacred center fire.

Inner Circle Sanctuary wish candle fire - Lughnasadh 2017

As our theme for the Autumn Equinox is “Thanksgiving” we write what we are thankful for on our parchment, and wrap it around a silver candle. Silver candles are used as “Thank You Candles” in our Tradition. For what are you thankful this year?

You are thankful for something, yes? If nothing else, you are still alive. Chances are, if you are reading an article about Wicca, you are doing relatively well. Feeling fortunate, and giving thanks, are well known qualities of successful people. So burn a silver candle! Safely, of course. Or maybe you’re one of those people who believe you got here on your own, with no help from anyone, not luck or good fortune. You can burn a silver candle too; just make it a Penis shaped candle to reflect your personality…

We also play the “Candle Game” at Autumn Equinox, as described in “A Witches Bible Compleat” by Janet and Stewart Farrar. It is a very entertaining game for a group of adults to play- as long as you have a good sense of humor, and enjoy a lot of kissing, and being (lightly) scourged!

If you don’t, by the way, we are definitely not the coven for you…

Inner Circle Sanctuary The Charge of the Goddess

While we use the proper term for the time, Autumn Equinox, we also refer to the Sabbat as Mabon. A well known pagan author, Aidan Kelly, began referring to the Sabbat as Mabon around 1970, according to Wikipedia. We love the modernity of Wicca and Neo-Paganism! Especially when they are culled from ancient roots, as the name Mabon is.

Mabon, a character from Welsh mythology, was son of Modron, whose name probably means “Great Mother.” Her name is one of the names we add to the Introduction to the Charge of the Goddess for this Sabbat.

Here in Southern Nevada, the Fire of Summer is hopefully cooled by the Water of Autumn by the time we head outdoors to perform our Sabbat. Our Sabbats are grand events, and the set up can be quite taxing, especially when the temperature is in the triple digits.

Although Sol enters the sign of Libra around this time, an Air sign, we relate Fall to the element of Water, as it is the Dusk of the year.

As we are a Nature based religion, we relate most to the Harvest aspects of this time of year, Mabon being the middle of three Harvest Sabbats; the first being Lughnassadh, and the last, Samhain. Other groups and traditions mark this Solar tide in their own way, with their own focus.

Note that Inner Circle Sanctuary rarely uses the terms “Greater” and “Lesser” when referring to Sabbats. We consider each spoke of the Wheel of the Years to be equal, and necessary, as they indicate varying levels or aspects of fertility.

Wheel of the Year by Lady Nashoba

The eight divisions of the year can all be considered marked by the Sun, as the Equinoxes and Solstices are real, objective events that easily divide the year, and the Cross Quarter Days, the more Terrestrial Sabbats, are approximately midway between the Solar Sabbats. It is this relationship of Sol to Terra that gives us obvious occasions to celebrate Nature!

Why are Equinoxes so powerful to those of us who believe such things? I liken it to a two cylinder engine, preferably a V-Twin. At the Solstices, one cylinder is diminished- Day overtaking Night at the Summer Solstice, and Night absorbing Day at the Winter Solstice. At the Equinoxes, both cylinders are firing equally- that’s a lot of magical torque!

Let’s examine how some other magical groups observe the Equinox.

The Ordo Aurum Solis (Order of the Gold of the Sun) performs Affirmation Rituals in its Houses of Initiates. These rituals theugically reinforce (affirm) cohesion within the Houses, their attachment to the Order, and to the Egregore of the Order as a whole. ​

The Sacred Order of Sophisians, a Napoleonic Era rite of Egyptian Free Masonry, holds a simple celebration for the Autumn Equinox, probably as a foreshadow of celebrating the Resurrection of the God Osiris at the Spring Equinox. The Sacred Order of Sophisians is open to women as well as men, which makes it of particular interest to Pagans, Polytheists, and lovers of Ancient Egypt.

The Golden Dawn observes this potent time with grand ceremonies as found in “The Golden Dawn” by Israel Regardie, and “The Equinox and Solstice Ceremonies of the Golden Dawn” by Pat and Chris Zalewski. The latter book contains a version of the ritual for use by a lone practitioner, so anyone can tap in to the magick of the Equinox. These Equinox ceremonies (Autumn and Spring) include installation of Lodge Officers, and the use of a new password.

Aleister Crowley published a very usable, stripped down version of the Golden Dawn Equinox ceremony in his 1936 work 'The Equinox of the Gods.'

Tarostar, a famous author of many great books of Magick and Witchcraft (several of which are used in

ICS curricula), refers to Equinoxes and Solstices as “the Times,” and their celebrations as Celestial Sabbats in his book “The Sacred Pentagraph.” There are introspective questions asked and meditated on during the Autumn Equinox ritual, and annual dues are collected.

How will you celebrate Mabon? Whether you are a

Solitary Practitioner, or part of a group or coven, observing this powerful time of the year with joy and reverence will join you to a large community of magical people, and harmonize you with Nature, and energize your Spirit. May Frith and good seasons go with you!

​Demeter is the daughter of the titans Kronos and Rhea, and sister to the Olympian deities. The name Demeter comes from de, which is a derivative of the Cretan word dêai, meaning barley, and the word meter which means mother. De could also come from the Greek word da which means earth. Whichever etymology you choose to believe, it means the same thing. Demeter is the earth mother. In the Roman pantheon, she is called Ceres, which gives us the word cereal. She is the goddess of grain and barley. Demeter’s influence was not limited to just grain, but extended to vegetation and fruits in general, and thus fertility. Women, especially, revere Demeter for her attributes of health, birth, and marriage. Demeter taught mankind about agriculture. Through agriculture, cities were created. With cities came law and order. Because of this, she was also thought to be a goddess of justice.

Demeter in Neustrelitz by Ruchhöft-Plau

​As a mother goddess, Demeter is usually depicted as a mature woman with a chaplet of corn bearing a cornucopia and a torch. Her festivals take place during the harvest season and the first corn was always given to her as an offering. Her symbol is the bright red poppy, which commonly grows among the wheat fields. To ensure the fertility of the crops, pigs were often sacrificed to the goddess. Animals that are sacred to Demeter are pigs, serpents or geckos, and bees.

Frederic Leighton - The Return of Perspephone (1891)

​Perhaps the most well-known story surrounding Demeter is the abduction of Persephone by Hades. In short, Hades, the God of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone, Demeter’s daughter. Demeter was so heartbroken with grief that she would not allow the earth to bear fruit until she was reunited with her daughter. Fearing that mankind would starve to death, Zeus intervened and told Hades to return Persephone to her mother. However, while in the Underworld, Persephone ate some pomegranate seeds and was bound to spend a third of the year below the earth as Queen of the Underworld and wife to Hades. This myth corresponds to the cycle of the seasons and helps to explain why the earth is barren during the winter months while Persephone resides in the underworld. When Persephone returns to the world and to her mother, she brings the spring and fruitfulness of the earth with her.

​Persephone and Demeter are often referred to as one in the same goddess. Persephone would be the maiden form of the earth goddess, Demeter herself would be the mother aspect, and often, Hecate is considered to be the crone aspect of this triple goddess form. This idea of the goddess undergoing a change in herself to correlate with the seasons is one of the Eleusinian Mysteries so often associated with Demeter. The Eleusinian Mysteries are some of the oldest and most famous of the secret rites of ancient Greece. Initiates into the Mysteries would reenact the loss of Persephone to the Underworld, Demeter’s search for her daughter, and finally the ascent of Persephone back to the world. Through this reenactment of symbolic death and rebirth, the initiates would learn that all life springs forth from the generations that came before.

Fryne i Eleusis, maleri av Henryk Siemiradzki (1889)

​During these modern times, we certainly aren’t going to sacrifice a pig to honor the goddess. Most of us probably don’t have a corn harvest either. If you would like to make an offering to Demeter during her harvest season, you could make corn muffins and share them with the goddess. You could also bake cookies in the shape of any of her sacred animals and share them with friends and family, and of course, the goddess. You could gather some of the best looking fall vegetables you can find and make a nice barley and vegetable stew. Have some friends over and share your stew with the goddess. Leave a seat at the head of the table for her to enjoy the stew with you. The best ways to commune with the gods and to make offerings is just to share your time and effort with them. After all, Demeter is the mother goddess. Don’t you want to spend time with your mother?

Sources: The Witches’ Goddess by Janet and Stewart FarrarThe New Book of Goddesses and Heroines by Patricia Monaghanhttp://www.hellenicgods.orghttp://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Demeter.htmlhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Demeterhttps://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/demeter/

Throughout high school I volunteered on a regular basis at our local senior center. I will always distinctly remember two people; a woman who would tell me the same stories over and over as we looked through her albums, and a sharp-witted man who was a retired fire fighter and proud Freemason. For a while I aspired to be a geriatric nurse, until I experienced the heartache that comes when they pass on. Seeing lonely seniors whose children never visited them was a hard lesson to learn about how our Western culture commonly discards parents.

After my own Mother passed, my Father remarried a Chinese woman and she educated me about how Eastern culture puts so much emphasis on caring for parents it is now the law in China!

Beyond the daily care of our aging parents, how can we do better as a culture to celebrate our elderly? Here are a few ideas:

As the saying goes, “Age before beauty,” proper etiquette dictates that the eldest female is given priority in these circumstances:

When people are seated. (Older men offered remaining seats.)

When opening doors for others.

When orders are taken at a restaurant.

When introducing people outside of a business environment. (Older men next.)

(I cite no sources for this as I was a “Manners Instructor” at a finishing school for girls. I also graduated from one as a child. These are American rules. Every country & culture differs.)

​These are more ways to celebrate our elders:

Serving them first at home mealtime.

Performing lawn and home care when they are unable.

Driving them around for appointments or errands after they relinquish their driver’s license.

Overseeing financials if possible to prevent them from being scammed.

Being an advocate if they are hospitalized or live in a senior home to avoid over-medicating, senior abuse, or negligence.

Call them as often as you can, send them letters or cards, invite them to social functions, and drive them to their favorite activities to alleviate loneliness triggered depression.

Consider this, if you believe in the concept of reincarnation, then we are possibly the older souls who came after them and we are caring for them now as our spiritual children from past lives. Even if you extend compassion and kindness to an unrelated elder, you never know when your souls may cross paths again in future lifetimes.

​​​For a quarter of a century, we have practiced our brand of Wicca and taught it to the public regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, political orientation, health, and class. We see more similarities than separation among people, and transform our differences into strength.

Inner Circle, in all it's incarnations, has always been inclusive and we maintain that stance even more so today.

The High Priest of our group, Lord Mordred, (whom we affectionately called the Dark Lord) had many sayings we loved dearly... including this one: "Everyone has a right to the Goddess."

Anyone who wishes to join us will have to accept that we may have a gay couple leading our ring... we may have a trans-gendered person paired with a partner leading our ring... and they will kiss one another, as is the way of our rituals. We already have plenty of priests and priestesses who have no issue with performing these rituals so it is not required, but if you wish to join us, you have to be accepting of this. The "it's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" has NO place in our Wiccan coven.

There is a Wiccan chant that seems like it's been around forever that says:

We All Come From The GoddessAnd To Her We Shall ReturnLike A Drop Of Rain,Flowing To The Ocean

We believe that 'We All Come From the Goddess' and since We are a part of Nature and We hold all things in Nature in reverence, We ourselves hold each other in reverence. This is a core belief of Wicca and anything else is completely incongruent with that belief.

Wine is relatively easy to make in today's world, but it hasn't always been so. Sometime in the far distant past, fermentation was a happy seasonal happenstance. The natural yeast on grapes brought about fermentation of the juice into wine and then into vinegar (if it wasn't drank first). This mysterious process, believed to be through divine intervention, was considered a gift from the Gods. Drinking this divinely intoxicating beverage allowed the drinker to take in divine energy. Thus, wine became an integral sacrament in religious rites, and still is today.

​I like the story of the origins of wine told about a King of Persia. He really loved grapes and wanted to eat them all year. His servants carefully stored grapes in jars so the king could eat them any time. One jar had grapes that seeped juice and started to ferment. When opened the odor and appearance of the fermented contents caused the jar to be marked poison. One of the kings wives had chronic nervous headaches and decided to kill herself by drinking the poisoned juice. She fell asleep, but when she woke she felt refreshed and had no headache. She finished off the jar of wine! She evidently had such a good time that the king ordered more of the grape juice “poison” to be made. He declared it to be sacred medicine. As improbable as this story sounds ( I'd have had a hangover, lol), grapes preserved as raisins would make a nice sweet wine.

​At some point in time the wild grape vines were domesticated and planted in vineyards; the grapes were fermented and stored in clay jars, and tree resins were added to prevent the must from turning to vinegar. Archaeologists believe this came about during the Neolithic period around 8500-4000 BC. They have found evidence that resinated wine (wine with wood resin), was being produced during this period (ca 5400-5000 BC) in fairly large amounts at Hajji Firuz Tepe, in the northern mountains of Iran. It was during this period that the growth of agriculture (particularly wheat and barley) and the invention of pottery made permanent settlements possible. These innovations were necessary for a sustainable year round food source and storage. They were also necessary for processing and storing wines. Egyptologists discovered 700 jars of resinated wine in the tomb of Scorpion I, one of the first Egyptian rulers (around 3150 BC). The development of narrow necked jars that could be sealed, were key to the storage and shipping of wine. By 3000 BC, the Nile Delta had transplanted vineyards and developed a thriving wine trade. The jars were inscribed with the year of the pharaoh’s reign, the vineyard location, the vintner’s name and the quality of the wine (good to very very good).

​Autumn Equinox is a time to “Eat, drink, and be merry,” to share and give thanks for the bounty of the harvest. Giving offerings and libations to God and Goddess is a ritual at least as old as agriculture and brewing. Every culture has one or more deities to whom they pay homage for the gift of brewing. One of the oldest is Nin-Kasi of Sumer, She was the brewer for the gods, who taught humans the art of brewing beer as well. Osiris, Egyptian God of the Dead was originally a god of vegetation and fertility. He taught the Egyptian people how to grow wheat and barley and of course the cultivation of grapevines. The main drink of Egyptians and Sumerians was beer which was brewed from bread and malted grain. Tenemet ,the Egyptian Goddess, originally associated with bread making, became Goddess of Beer and aids Osiris in his brewing. More famous for drinking and frivolity is the Greek God, Dionysus.He brings joy and divine ecstasy, and is also a vegetation, and fertility God. He is also known as Bacchus, the Roman God of wine and festivals. So eat, drink, and be merry in honor of the God and Goddess. Share your harvest, bread and wine with them in thanks for their bounty!

Activities you might like to try:

You might want to try your hand at making wine at this time of year when grapes and berries are plentiful. Apples are also plentiful and the juice can be spiced or fermented for a hard cider.

Make bread from scratch! You can purchase wheat or barley and grind them into flour yourself. You can find recipes for bread, wine and more on Pinterest; the library is also a great resource.

Sources: The History of Wine in 100 Bottles: From Bacchus to Bordeaux and Beyond by Oz Clark​The Golden Bough by Sir James George FrazerThe Origins and Ancient History of Wine: Food and Nutrition in History by McGovern, Fleming, and Katz thedrinksbusiness.com

They can also be a way to de-stress. I find taking care of indoor plants is a way to soothe my soul when I am nervous or fidgety. I water them, remove any dead leaves, nurture them, and talk to them the whole time. I tell them how my day was, or the crazy thing that happened at work. I sound like the crazy plant lady, but talking to them is like talking to your pet, they can’t answer, but they always listen.

Houseplants are a great way to start with plant magic, it doesn’t matter how much space you have, you can have at least one plant, even if the only space you have is on your computer desk. Just try to make sure it can get some sunlight, and doesn’t get too much or too little water.

Aloe

Aloe for example, is a relatively easy plant to take care of, and has some medicinal, as well as magical uses. I know a lot of people who use aloe for sunburn; whether it works or not, should be made on an individual basis.

Aloe is said to protect against evil, and to bring good luck if hung over a doorway. If planted outside of your house, or along your property lines, it is said to keep intruders away.​In some countries, aloe is used along with other herbs, lodestones, nuts and other ingredients, and woven into wreaths; sometimes even including pictures of Saints. The wreaths are then hung up in the home, bringing protection and encouraging luck.

Rosemary

Rosemary, along with being a great seasoning in stews, soups and potatoes, it also has many magical uses. As an incense, it can eliminate negativity. A sachet under your pillow can aid in a restful sleep by protecting the sleeper, and ward off nightmares.

It is said that inhaling the sweet aroma, can improve memory and aid in memory retention, because it improves concentration and focus.

Rosemary can also be used in healing spells for health, friendship, and heartbreak. It protects against hexes and can be used in banishing spells.​In the bath, rosemary can help purify skin, and a rinse of rosemary tea will leave your hair with a beautiful shine and manageably soft.Rosemary can be used as a substitute for Frankincense.

Gardenia

Gardenia is a wonderfully aromatic flower that are generally grown outside as a shrub or a tree, but they can also be grown as an indoor plant. They prefer partial shade and the soil should remain moist, as it prefers humidity.

These creamy white flowers are sometimes included in a bouquet for hospital patients, as it aids in healing.

Dried gardenia leaves can be added to a love incense.

Gardenia assists in female power, comfort, compassion and harmony, and emotional well-being.​Some say one of the advantages of gardenia, is to help in spirituality and traveling to the astral realm.

Bamboo

Almost everyone is familiar with the Bamboo plant. Some call it Lucky Bamboo.

“In the wild, 99 percent of a panda’s diet consists of leaves, stems and shoots of the bamboo plant, while the remainder is made up of flowers, vines, grasses, green corn, honey and small rodents.” (reference.com)

“Bamboo is included in some of the fastest growing plants in the world. Certain species can grow 3 feet in a 24 hour period, at a rate of almost 4cm an hour.” (wikipedia.org)

In magical circles the power of bamboo is for luck, protection and wishes.

“The Chinese use it as a form of divination. Pieces of the wood are thrown to the worshipper by a priest. According to the way they fall, the omen is interpreted as good or bad.”

Magical uses for bamboo include, carving your wish on a piece of bamboo and burying it in the ground, in a place that will not be disturbed. You could also carve a protective symbol on it and plant it near your house for protection.

Bamboo that is grown near a home gives the occupants good fortune and it can also be hung over a door for luck.

To break a hex with bamboo, you can carry a piece with you, or grind it into a powder to make a bamboo incense and burn.​The Chinese believe that if you carve a flute from bamboo, it will call good spirits.

Sapphires have been held in high regards since around 800 B.C. by nobility and then by the clergy. Kings and Queens believed that wearing sapphire would protect them from feelings of envy by those they ruled over and protect them from harm, evil, and witchcraft. The blue of the sapphire symbolized Heaven by the church and followers believed the stone attracted heavenly blessings.

Keep blue sapphires near by to inspire you creatively and to enhance you intuition. Black sapphires are excellent to help you find work and for spiritual protection. Blue Sapphires are most commonly associated with the throat chakra.

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy)Written by Deborah Harkness and published in 2011. The tale of a scholarly discovery, by a young student and descendant of witches, an alchemical manuscript which brings to the light the dark underside of our world.

RagnarokWritten by A.S. Byatt and published in 2011. A mid-20th century tale of a young girl struggling being disenfranchised during World War Two, who is given a book of Norse legends and how she comes to understand and cope with her environment, as she feels an instant kinship to these Gods, but with a twist that spans five decades.

The Magicians SeriesWritten by Lev Grossman and published in 2009. A hugely popular series of books that inspired the ScyFy channel series tells a similar (but much more fleshed out) story to Harry Potter of a school of magic, this tale however crosses over to include deals with Gods, both good and bad and the heroics and evils of both the light and dark paths of magic.

​The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane​Written by Katherine Howe and published in 2009. A story of the connection between Salem 1681 and Marblehead, Massachusetts 1991 – and the young lady tied to both.

The Sweep SeriesWritten by Cate Tiernan and published in 2007. “Morgan Rowlands never thought she was anything other than a typical sixteen-year-old girl. But when she meets Cal, a captivatingly handsome coven leader, she makes a discovery that turns her whole world upside down: she is a witch, descended from an ancient and powerful line. And so is Cal. Their connection is immediate and unbreakable; Cal teases out Morgan's power, her love, her magick. But Morgan discovers too soon that her powers are strong, almost too powerful to control. And she begins to suspect that Cal may be keeping secrets from her, secrets that could destroy them both”

Anansi BoysWritten by Neal Gaiman and published in 2005. Tied loosely to American Gods, this is another story in the fictional world of Gods alive in America and the story of one man who discovers what it can mean when your father is a God.

Practical MagicWritten by Alice Hoffman and published in 2003. The very famous story of the Owens sisters and their eccentric pair of aunts. It is the story their place in a small Massachusetts town where their family have been known as witches for over 200 years. It is a story of being an outsider and how two sisters handle it in very different ways.

Confessions of a Pagan Nun: A NovelWritten by Kate Horsley and published in 2001. The story of a young nun who secretly records her pagan upbringing while cloistered in a monastery of Saint Brigit, and how the words and knowledge of her youth may come to save the day.

Witch HillWritten by Marcus Segwick and published in 2001. “The fire was a family tragedy that Jamie can't forget, even in his dreams. Now something terrifying involving a witch and a frightened girl is happening to Jamie in Crownhill, the village where he's been sent to get over his problems”

American GodsWritten by Neal Gaiman and published in 2001. The story of the Old Gods of the world as they are now in America; tired, lonely and seeking to be once again worshiped. The story of what happens, the mischief and misadventure, and what is left behind to be picked up when man moves beyond legends and Gods.

RhinegoldWritten by Sephan Grundy and published in 1992. A tale “Set in the sensuous & exuberant world of North European myth & saga, this epic of heroism & betrayal, incest & tragedy breathes life into an age of unequaled grandeur, bringing intimacy & poignancy to the tumult of legend.”

DruidsWritten by Morgan Llywelyn and published in 1990. “ ‘Mine was the vast dark sky and the spaces between the stars that called out to me; mine was the promise of magic’. So spoke the young Celt Ainvar, centuries before the enchanted age of Arthur and Merlin. An orphan taken in by the chief druid of the Carnutes in Gaul, Ainvar possessed talents that would lead him to master the druid mysteries of thought, healing, magic, and battle— talents that would make him a soul friend to the Prince Vercingetorix.”

​The FirebrandWritten by Marion Zimmer Bradley and published originally in 1987. Another retelling of classic fiction by MZB, this is the tale of the Trojan War and the life of those involved in the conflict as told through the eyes of a priestess-princess warrior.

Jitterbug PerfumeWritten by Tom Robbins and published in 1984. This is the story of man’s discovery of the Gods (the amazing and quirky Pan for one), reincarnation and our ability to control our own destiny and what is and what will come again all masked behind the great story of the mystery behind an elusive perfume scent.

The Witches of EastwickWritten by John Updike and published in 1984. The first story of what became The Eastwick Series of novels. Set in Rhode Island at the end of the Vietnam war, it is the tale of what happens; the good, the bad and the scandalous, to three women when the devil comes to town.

Mists of AvalonWritten by Marion Zimmer Bradley and published originally in 1984. This is the first book of what has become the Avalon series and tells the story of the Arthurian legend through the eyes of the women who influenced his rise to the throne and the power behind it.

Lammas NightWritten by Katherine Kurtz and published in 1983. The story of how England would attempt to stop the secrets of evil witchcraft that Hitler was to use in the World War Two era of the 1940’s. Inspired loosely on the actual workings of Gerald Gardner’s coven.

​The Last Viking SeriesWritten by Poul Anderson and published in 1980. “The saga of Harald Harrede. ‘He was a huge man, fully seven feet tall and no one could stand before him in battle or sport...His manner was often curt and haughty, though he knows how to win to him those whom he liked...and he could never hear enough of far lands’.‘So wide a world and so short a span to wander it!’ ”

Murder at Witches’ BluffWritten by Silver Ravenwolf and published in 1980. “The story of Murder at Witches' Bluff takes place in Cold Springs, an evil place with an evil history. As with many small towns, the citizens have many skeletons in their closets. As the mystery unfolds, you'll wonder if someone is willing to kill to make sure those secrets are not revealed”

OmegaWritten by Stewart Farrar and published in 1980. The acclaimed journalist and occult author Stewart Farrar tells the tale of what happens when science, greed, and technology clash with those with a deep seeded respect for the land and are in touch with nature.

﻿The Wicker Man: A Novel﻿ Written by Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer and published in 1978. The movie came first, but the novelization is great too and does not star Nicholas Cage. This is the tale of how far a coven of hereditary witches will go to remain secluded and bring about the gifts of the God to their ventures. PS: The witches win, always a plus.

Rosemary’s BabyWritten by Ira Levin and published in 1967. The tale of a satanic cult who snare and seduce a young woman, who remains reluctant, in order to bring about the birth of the Antichrist in the modern world.

​High Magic’s AidWritten by Gerald Gardner and published in 1949. Now acknowledged as Gardner’s attempt to publicize witchcraft in English isles before the repeal of the witchcraft laws and is a ‘Lord of the Rings’ type story in medieval times where there is a quest to discover the forbidden secrets of the wise.

The Goat-Foot GodWritten by Dion Fortune and published in 1936. This is the story of crossing centuries and what happens when the God Pan is brought into existence through invocation.

The Sea PriestessWritten by Dion Fortune and published in 1935. The story of “Vivien Le Fay Morgan- a practicing initiate of the Hermetic Path. Vivien has the ability to transform herself into magical images, and here she becomes Morgan Le Fay, sea priestess of Atlantis and foster daughter to Merlin! Desperately in love with Vivien, Wilfred Maxwell works by her side at an isolated seaside retreat, investigating these occult mysteries. They soon find themselves inextricably drawn to an ancient cult through which they learn the esoteric significance of the magnetic ebb and flow of the moon-tides”

The Legend of Sigurd and GudrunWritten by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a take of two tales of the Poetic Edda as told by acclaimed fantasy author Tolkien recounting the heroic stories and ends to men and women born of Norse legend.

MacbethWritten by Shakespeare and published many centuries ago, 17th century I believe. The story of the man who would be king through murder most foul, temptation of fate or is it his own ambition, and at what cost?

​The MabinogionPublished in 1410, this is a collection of Celtic myths, Arthurian legend and fictional interpretations of British history. The story of the Cauldron of Ceridwen is featured as one of the high points of this collection.

The Prose Edda (Penguin Classic Edition)Written and Translated by Snorri Sturluson and Jesse Byock and published in 2005, original work published 13th century). The collection and source of Nordic tales, poems and stories that tell of heroes, monsters and the land from the beginning of time to the eventual end and rebirth of the world.

The Golden AssWritten by Apuleious and published in 158 (you read that right). The only work of fiction to survive in whole from antiquity, it tells the story of sex and magic and how it can mentally and physically transform and humiliate us.

Recommended by Pagan Friends

Updated 11/2017Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin HearneAtticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordanfocuses on the GreeksAfter getting expelled from yet another school for yet another clash with mythological monsters only he can see, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is taken to Camp Half-Blood, where he finally learns the truth about his unique abilities: He is a demigod, half human, half immortal. Even more stunning: His father is the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea, making Percy one of the most powerful demigods alive.

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordanis a sequel series to the PJ series which brings the Roman pantheon to the forefront. After saving Olympus from the evil Titan lord, Kronos, Percy and friends have rebuilt their beloved Camp Half-Blood, where the next generation of demigods must now prepare for a chilling prophecy of their own: Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, To storm or fire the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan follow the Egyptian deities. Since their mother's death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane. One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

The Magnus Chase books by Rick Riordanare Norse. Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he barely knows—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

The Dresden Files by Jim ButcherAs a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put it mildly, stinks.